Blue Water Development Diary

[Medley1991]

Amazing news !

Good luck guys...

Any informations for : Release date, "kickstarter" plan, pre-release, and support of release ? ( Steam ? )

Thanks !

[AzureSkies]

Originally Posted by Herman

Not true. I occasionally drop to 1:1 time just to give the impression that I am doing something important. It keeps my opponent guessing so that he can never know whether or not the 1:1 time means that I am detecting him, attacking him, or just checking on the status of a unit. Used judiciously, it keeps all sides honest.

The important thing is that the option is always available to players and is not arbitrarily imposed.

I know a physicist who refers to equipment that isn't behaving as you'd expect it to (ie, you can't get it to work right) as equipment with "features".

Too much automation can cause problems. I definitely lean towards power to the player, but ultimately the implementation of this is still a ways out.

Originally Posted by Ramba

So you are basically doing this alone?

It's a very small team, but it's still growing and it's definitely not a solo job.

Originally Posted by Sea Demon

Saw this. Had to respond. Wishing the developer success. Count me in as somebody wanting to purchase this game.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Medley1991

Amazing news !

Good luck guys...

Any informations for : Release date, "kickstarter" plan, pre-release, and support of release ? ( Steam ? )

Thanks !

I'd like to have a bare-bones "alpha" sometime this summer. No kickstarter plan at the moment.

Steam will probably be the publisher, yes. If It's received well, I look forward to leading the implementation of a lot of fine details and additions to it over time.

[Herman]

Originally Posted by AzureSkies

Too much automation can cause problems. I definitely lean towards power to the player, but ultimately the implementation of this is still a ways out.

I agree that this is the prudent path. When in doubt, leave it up to the players. Even though ANW had problems with the time compression during MP sessions, players were able to work around them with relatively minor ad hoc solutions.

Making more processes mandatory or automatic generates more programming error possibilities. For example, with the time issue, does the time drop to 1:1 upon detection, when a unit fires, when a unit enters theoretical firing range, etc. These are all likely considerations the game engine must calculate to know when it changes time compression. And what happens when something goes wrongly? They are all just additional areas errors can arise. Looking for new ways to add unnecessary complications is just looking for trouble.

Learn from the mistakes of others. Steam and Iron is a solitaire game and has a mandatory change in time compression when enemy units are in visual contact with one another; the game will not move faster than 1:5 time compression. Unfortunately, I often found my finger mashed down on the Increase Time hotkey because I wanted the game to just run through the battle. I wasn't issuing any orders and was usually trying to disengage.

Learn from their mistakes. You will find plenty enough opportunity to create new ones.

[ijozic]

The interface reminds me more of the Strike Fleet actually, rather than Fleet Command. The only thing missing is the viewpoint from the command bridge.

Always wanted a successor to that game so I'm pretty thrilled by this.